440 US Colleges sponsor varsity Wrestling teams:
Total # of teams | Total # of Athletes | Average Roster | Scholarship limit | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Division : | Schools | Men's | Women's | Men | Women | Men's | Women's | Men | Women | ||||
NCAA I * | 80 | ![]() | 80 | 4 | ![]() | 2,805 | 46 | ![]() | 35 | 12 | ![]() | 9.9 | 10 |
NCAA II | 78 | 73 | 33 | 2,343 | 539 | 33 | 21 | 9 | 10 | ||||
NCAA III | 129 | 127 | 55 | 3,607 | 443 | 30 | 11 | - | - | ||||
NAIA | 68 | 68 | 42 | 1,869 | 738 | 25 | 18 | 10 | 10 | ||||
NJCAA | 63 | 63 | 20 | 1,276 | 247 | 21 | 13 | 20 | 33 | ||||
CCCAA | 22 | 22 | 16 | 477 | 39 | 20 | 13 | ||||||
Totals | 440 | 433 | 170 | 12,377 | 2,052 | 29 | 15 |
Wrestling is an NCAA equivalency sport, so partial scholarships awards can be made. For example, an NCAA Division II school can award 18 male wrestlers each a 1/2 scholarship and not exceed the limit of 9 per team. See our page on scholarship limits for more information.
Women’s wrestling is one of the fastest growing intercollegiate sports; the governing body for most women’s teams is the Women’s College Wrestling Association. Women’s wrestling is an NCAA emerging Sport and NAIA Women’s wrestling is an invitational sport
* Effect of House v NCAA proposed NIL settlement on Wrestling:
As part of the House v. NCAA proposed settlement, scholarship limits for Division I sports will be eliminated and roster limits will apply instead. Beginning in the 2025-26 season, NCAA I wrestling teams would have a roster limit of 30 athletes, all of whom would be eligible for full scholarships. However, scholarship awards are discretionary, schools can elect to fully fund a sport, partially fund or provide no athletic scholarships.
Additionally, under the proposed settlement NCAA I schools will be allowed to share athletic revenues with their varsity athletes up to an initial cap of $ 20.5 million per year. The following table is an estimate of how 2025-26 revenue sharing would likely be allocated for the average NCAA I Power conference school:
Revenue Sharing 2025-26 Power Conference Schools | Average $ per Team | Roster Limit | Average $ per Player | Revenue Sharing % | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Wrestling | 126,591 | 30 | 4,220 | 0.6% | ||||
Football | 15,345,899 | 105 | 146,151 | 75.0% | ||||
Men's Basketball | 3,279,161 | 15 | 218,611 | 16.0% | ||||
All Other Sports | 1,748,349 | 430 | 4,066 | 8.4% | ||||
Totals | 20,500,000 | 100% |
Football and Men’s basketball account for over 90% of team specific revenues at most Power Conference schools, and athletes on these two teams will be the major beneficiaries under the revenue sharing model. These are averages per athlete. In actuality, a few players per team will receive substantially higher than the average, while many will get much less. For players who see little if any playing time, their revenue sharing will also likely be little or none.
These estimates are for schools in the four Power conferences. Revenue sharing allocations for other NCAA I Schools will significantly lower – see our page on NCAA revenue sharing for Wrestling Teams on our sister site NIL-NCAA.com for additional information.
US Colleges & Universities sponsoring varsity Wrestling teams:
Hover over individual states on the map below to see how many schools sponsor varsity wrestling programs. The table below the map has information on each sponsoring school and links to all 440 team sites.
Schools sponsoring varsity Wrestling teams 2024-25
Odds of a High School Wrestler making a College Varsity Roster:
College Wrestling Odds 2022: | Male | Female | |
---|---|---|---|
Number of US High School Wrestlers 2021-22 | ![]() | 238,924 | 32,616 |
Number of College Wrestlers (see table below) | 12,377 | 2,052 | |
% of US HS Wrestlers competing at any College Level | 5.2% | 6.3% | |
% of US HS Wrestlers Competing at NCAA I Schools | 1.2% | 0.1% | |
Odds of a US HS Wrestler making any College Roster | 19:1 | 16:1 | |
Odds of a US HS Wrestler making an NCAA I Roster | 86:1 | 709:1 | |
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These are the odds of a random US high school wrestler making a college roster. Actual odds are likely better for most athletes motivated to play in college due to several factors: High school participation includes multi-sport athletes who typically play only one sport in college, many high school athletes do not intend to compete at the college level, and unfortunately, a significant portion of high school students – including athletes – do not go on to college. While nearly 70% of 2021 female high school graduates enrolled in college, only 55% of male graduates enrolled in either a 2-year or 4-year school, and as a result males currently represent only about 4 in 10 college students nationwide. See our page on the odds of competing in college for more information.
Do you have the skills to compete in College Wrestling?
What level of athlete are coaches looking for and who are you competing with for a roster spot? A good way to get an idea is to look at the high-school bios of wrestlers currently on the roster of schools that interest you.
# of Schools sponsoring College Wrestling by State:
# of Schools with varsity wrestling teams by State 2022-23 | Total | NCAA I | NCAA II | NCAA III | NAIA | NJCAA | CCCAA | Other | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pennsylvania | 45 | 11 | 9 | 21 | 3 | 1 | ||||
California | 30 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 21 | ||||
Iowa | 28 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 9 | 6 | ||||
New York | 27 | 7 | 1 | 14 | 5 | |||||
Ohio | 24 | 4 | 5 | 13 | 2 | |||||
Michigan | 19 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | ||||
Illinois | 18 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 4 | |||||
Kansas | 17 | 2 | 7 | 8 | ||||||
Virginia | 16 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 1 | |||
Missouri | 14 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 6 | |||||
Totals | 436 | - | 80 | 73 | 124 | 74 | 61 | 21 | 3 |
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